Truman graduate to lead winter commencement

A graduate of Truman State University and current Mo. senator will return to campus as the commencement speaker for the December 2012 graduation ceremony at Pershing Arena.

The winter commencement, scheduled for Dec. 15 at 11 a.m., will feature Eric S. Schmitt, a 1997 Truman cum laude graduate who currently serves as a St. Louis district senator.

Schmitt also practices law as a partner at the law firm of Lathrop & Gage, LLP.

Hailing from St. Louis County, Schmitt graduated from DeSmet Jesuit High School and was a two-sport athlete while at Truman.

He also founded a Habitat for Humanity chapter on campus and after graduating earned his juris doctorate at Saint Louis University.

Schmitt was then elected to the Missouri Senate in 2008 and was recently re-elected in November to represent all or parts of Ballwin, Chesterfield, Clarkson Valley, Twin Oaks, Valley Park, Wildwood and Winchester.

He serves in Senate Leadership as majority caucus secretary and is chairman of the Jobs, Economic Development and Local Government committee.

Schmitt has also served as a Glendale, Mo., alderman from 2005 to 2008 and on the boards for his high school, the Nurses for Newborns Foundation, St. Louis Crisis Nursery and Kirkwood Parents as Teachers Program.

Schmitt currently lives in Glendale with his wife Jamie, a fellow 1997 Truman graduate, and their three children, Stephen, Sophia and Olivia.